MALVERN Town Action Group says it will concentrate on finding the best and most economic use for the council's Belle Vue Terrace offices with the appointment of a new review team.

The group had said it would seek legal advice over an alleged "blatant misuse of procedure" when the previous Belle Vue Terrace working party, on which it had a majority membership, was dissolved at the annual town meeting last month.

That threat has now been withdrawn after town councillors voted last Thursday (June 20), to carry out a Best Value Review of the offices. The vote was 15-0 in favour, with just two abstentions.

MTAG was given majority membership on the review team with Paul Tuthill and Freda Johnson joining Michael Angell.

The review will take place in July or August and report directly to a Best Value Working Party.

Speaking after the meeting, MTAG councillor Keith Phillips said his group would have preferred to have a free-standing working party, as previously, but that it was not in the business of "persistently changing the decisions of the council".

He said: "We think it's wrong to change perfectly valid decisions of the council and we didn't attempt to reverse the process.

"The important thing we say is to get the information considered properly so we can decide what the most economic and best use of the town offices is. We want to look at all the options.

"One of our (MTAG) promises to the electorate was to have a review of the offices."

Work carried out by the Belle Vue Terrace Working Party, which was approved by the council to examine the future of the former Manders building last December, will be used as a basis for the Best Value Review.

The council borrowed £490,000 for the new building, £460,000 of which is still outstanding.